Wisconsin has four ballot-qualified parties, the Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican Parties.  All qualified parties in Wisconsin nominate by primary.  Wisconsin requires just as many signatures to get someone on a primary ballot as on a general election ballot.  Statewide candidates need 2,000 signatures.  Wisconsin does not have registration by party, and any eligible voter may sign a petition to get someone on any party’s primary ballot.  Wisconsin’s primary this year is September 14.

The deadline for all petitions this year is Tuesday, July 13, at 5 p.m.  Parties must poll 1% of the November vote for any statewide race in order to remain ballot-qualified.

The Libertarian Party has been hoping to place Erick Scoglio on its own primary ballot for Governor, and Craig Mohn on its own primary for Treasurer.  The Green Party has been planning to put Pete Karas on its own primary ballot for Secretary of State.  However, activists in both parties have been slow to tackle the task of getting 2,000 signatures for their candidates, and now are having to rush to complete these primary petitions.  In Wisconsin, signatures are assumed to be valid if they have the statutory minimum number of signatures, unless someone challenges.  However, Wisconsin has very kind traditions and it is virtually unheard of for any petition to be challenged.  Also, Wisconsin permits out-of-state circulators.  Libertarians and Greens from Illinois are permitted to help with the Wisconsin petitioning, and will probably be doing so this coming weekend.

In 2006, the formerly ballot-qualified Constitution Party failed to place any statewide candidates on its own primary ballot, and the party lost its status as a qualified party, because obviously it couldn’t poll 1% of the November vote for any of its statewide nominees when it didn’t have any statewide nominees on the November ballot.  The Constitution Party has not recovered its status in Wisconsin.  A petition to create a new ballot-qualified party requires 10,000 signatures.